Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 554: Here I Come

Mitian had personally admitted that if one wanted heaven and earth spirit qi to recover quickly, then only the deaths of gods would do.

It was obvious that what she meant was imperial nectar.

After all, following the two imperial nectar eruptions, He Lingchuan could clearly feel that the spirit qi around him had grown denser than before.

That, in turn, proved the conclusion the Soul-Stealing Mirror had overheard from Tian Shengzi: the mortal realm and the so-called divine realm had always existed in a seesaw relationship. One side rose as the other fell. In the three thousand years since the heavenly gods departed, the spirit qi of the world had never recovered to the level it had reached in the age of immortals because the gods had used some method to siphon away the world’s spirit qi for their own use.

Mitian had already named that method as well, namely the “Heavenly Net,” which absorbed nightmare qi from the mortal realm.

The last time He Lingchuan had heard that term was from Fushan Yue. When the second illusion had appeared over the ruins of Qianxing City in the Twilight Plains, the Tianluo Star in the eastern sky had suddenly blazed with brilliance.

Plainly, that star could be treated as the lifeline of the gods. No, more than a lifeline, it was their umbilical cord. Through the Tianluo Star, nightmare qi from the mortal realm was delivered to the gods in an endless stream.

In the past, nightmare qi basically all went by way of the Tianluo Star. Even if the gods tried to gather it privately, they could not get much. Left with no better option, they could only accept what came.

But Mitian had no intention of staying quiet. At that moment, she had suddenly stepped in to muddy the waters.

Earlier, she had driven the Panlong Army to attack West Ji, seized still-active divine remains from the Royal Palace of West Ji, and then, borrowing the power of the Generous Pot, forged more than a thousand Dragon Punishment Pillars!

The greatest function of those things was to gather the freshest nightmare qi straight from the battlefield.

To put it plainly, they were intercepting the flow right under the Tianluo Star’s nose.

The total amount of nightmare qi the mortal realm could supply over a given period was limited. Every fraction siphoned away by a Dragon Punishment Pillar was one fraction less for the Tianluo Star to collect.

The more frequently Dragon Punishment Pillars were used in the mortal realm from now on, or the more gods used them, the less nightmare qi the Tianluo Star would receive in turn.

It was basically smuggling.

And what living creature did not act in its own self-interest by instinct? With a tool like this in hand, how could the gods possibly resist using it?

And once some of them used it, their peers would naturally receive less. How could the others just sit back and accept that?

At the end of the day, nightmare qi was the single most important resource in the divine realm. And the gods, too, had ranks and hierarchies. So how would those at the top treat peers who dug beneath their walls and stole their resources? And how would they treat the Dragon Punishment Pillar itself?

Just as Mitian had said, those 1,200 Dragon Punishment Pillars were effectively 1,200 seeds of provocation and division. Once planted, they were bound to bear fruit sooner or later.

When the gods in heaven fell, the essence of their bones and blood would transform into imperial nectar and return to the mortal realm.

Once He Lingchuan understood that cycle, he finally grasped Mitian’s grand scheme. She wanted to spread the Dragon Punishment Pillars as widely as possible among heretical gods and minor gods, all in hopes of stirring up conflict and internal struggle within the divine realm over the allocation of nightmare qi.

The mortal realm and the divine realm were locked in a zero-sum game. If more people died on one side, or more gods died on the other, then the opposing side benefited accordingly.

Would Mitian’s method really work?

One point alone was enough to answer that: the Dragon Punishment Pillar He Lingchuan had seized in the real world had come from an attendant of Beijia’s State Preceptor Shuang Ye.

So, where had that state preceptor gotten his own Dragon Punishment Pillar?

There was no doubt. It had come from followers of other gods in other states.

And the process of seizing those Dragon Punishment Pillars had surely not been pleasant. That meant Mitian had been right. Once scattered abroad, many of those Dragon Punishment Pillars would eventually end up in Beijia’s hands.

Moreover, He Lingchuan had noticed something else. If even a Beijia state preceptor was using a Dragon Punishment Pillar, then that probably meant a god stood behind him as well.

A god unwilling to sink into obscurity alongside the rest, determined to secure nightmare qi for itself.

If even a state preceptor of Beijia dared to do such a thing, then just how many contradictions and conflicts must nightmare qi be breeding in the divine realm?

Mitian’s scheme was an open one. Once Dragon Punishment Pillars had been scattered into the world, the chain of cause and effect had already begun, and it would no longer bend easily to the will of gods or men.

The poisoned waters she had stirred more than a hundred years ago were still sending out ripples to this day.

* * *

Outside the window, a lark was practicing a winding, melodious sequence, determined to master one especially difficult passage before autumn truly arrived.

He Lingchuan woke to its song. Recalling everything he had seen in the dream, he sighed unconsciously.

Mitian herself was a heavenly god. Why, then, was she so determined to stand against her own kind, so obsessed with plotting against the other gods?

That was yet another unresolved mystery.

And what about the Tianluo Star in the eastern sky? Why had it reacted to the second illusion at the ruins of Qianxing City?

Did that have anything to do with the Generous Pot?

If the Tianluo Star was so closely tied to the gods, then perhaps the gods had noticed the abnormality at the Qianxing City ruins, and that was why they had sent Bai Ziqi to investigate.

And once there was one clue, there might be a second; once there was a second, there might be a third. Would Bai Ziqi eventually trace everything back to him?

Cen Boqing had been arrested, Zhongsun Mou was dead, and the original enemies in the courier case no longer had the power to threaten him. But Bai Ziqi, acting on behalf of divine will, had immediately become his greatest problem.

He Lingchuan could already feel the extra attention Bai Ziqi was paying to him.

He believed Bai Ziqi had no evidence in hand. Otherwise, he would have been arrested already, even with Fushan Yue interfering at his side. But Bai Ziqi’s instincts were far too sharp. If that man kept staring at him like this, He Lingchuan worried it was only a matter of time before he slipped and exposed himself.

Now that Panlong City had suddenly restored this segment of history about the origins of the Dragon Punishment Pillar, was it perhaps hinting to him that he might try making a Dragon Punishment Pillar himself, drawing disaster elsewhere and diverting Bai Ziqi’s attention?

After all, Mitian had plainly said that some Dragon Punishment Pillars were tainted with the Generous Pot’s aura and would alarm the gods, drawing unwanted scrutiny.

And after all, the divine bone hung right by his throat. The Generous Pot had been watching his movements all along and ought to have a crystal-clear understanding of his current predicament.

The problem was this: where was he supposed to get the divine remains needed to make a Dragon Punishment Pillar?

The necklace around his neck definitely was not an option.

Just then, a scratching sound came from the door.

Jiao Yu had come. “Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai has finished official business in Chiyan. Tomorrow, he’ll be escorting the captive back to Lingxu. The crown prince and the rest of us are going along as well.”

He Lingchuan was visibly moved. “Bai Ziqi’s other case is finished too?”

“No idea.” The fierce tiger didn’t care about that. “His Highness guesses that perhaps other monster kings jointly submitted memorials to the Lord Emperor requesting an investigation into the elixir of youth case, which is why the Lord Emperor urgently summoned Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai back to report in person. I’ve heard the case is already being talked about all over Lingxu City. The royal court is probably feeling a lot of pressure.”

Criminals hunting monsters for beads had already frayed the nerves of monsterfolk and the army alike.

The illegal refining and trading of elixirs of youth was now fraying the nerves of the heavenly gods as well.

Lingxu City was probably finding the whole thing hard to bear, which was why it wanted Bai Ziqi, the chief investigator of the case, to hurry back and answer all the questions being thrown from every side.

And as more and more factions became entangled in the elixir of youth case, Lingxu City was finding it increasingly thorny too.

Rubbing his chin, He Lingchuan thought that this news was a mixed blessing.

The good side was obvious. Since Bai Ziqi had been ordered back to the capital, he would no longer have the spare capacity to continue investigating in northern Chiyan. He Lingchuan was sure he would leave people behind to continue looking, but those people were not Bai Ziqi himself.

The bad side was equally clear. He Lingchuan was about to leave the borders of the State of Chiyan. Once that happened, the protection that the ruler of Chiyan and his son could offer him would diminish sharply. And if Bai Ziqi was still interested in him after they reached Lingxu City...

So now he had to find some way to reduce Bai Ziqi’s interest in him.

He Lingchuan patted the tiger’s head. “Before we leave, I’m buying a dozen or so of Hu Mazi’s flatbreads for the road. Hmm. How about twelve kilograms of black-haired bull leg meat for you? My treat.”

The fierce tiger licked its lips. Its whip-like tail twitched once, and it agreed at once.

Baishajue had water everywhere, and the local black-haired cattle swam year-round while feeding on aquatic plants. As a result, they were beautifully built, and their meat was excellent. Jiao Yu was especially fond of them.

He Lingchuan then summoned the goshawk outside the window. “Run an errand for me, and I’ll pay you sixty kilograms of rabbit meat. How about it?”

Now that Fushan Yue had already arrived in Baishajue, He Lingchuan’s time as a special envoy had technically ended. By rights, the bird no longer had to obey his orders. But the goshawk felt this man was worth associating with. All the way here, it had never eaten badly or been treated poorly around him. So without much thought, it simply asked, “Where to?”

“Take a letter to Lingxu City for me.” He Lingchuan smiled. “Payment on delivery. We’ll be meeting there anyway.”

“So I’m just leaving a little earlier?” The goshawk was direct by nature. “Give me the letter.”

He Lingchuan handed over the letter he had already written and gave it the address. The goshawk spread its wings and departed at once.

Watching it shrink into a black speck at the horizon, He Lingchuan let out a quiet breath.

There was a major flaw in the explanation he had given Bai Ziqi. If that flaw could be patched, then perhaps much of Bai Ziqi’s suspicion could be neutralized. Everything depended on the outcome of this errand. He could only hope it went smoothly.

Not long after that, as he passed Chao Lake Tower, the sight stirred something in him, and he suddenly thought of Mai Xuewen.

He wondered where that man was now.

Before fleeing, Mai Xuewen had given him one warning: withdraw while he still could, or else he would be smashed to pieces.

And yet He Lingchuan had gone in the opposite direction. Now he was even preparing to leap straight into the heart of the whirlpool.

Well, there was no time to run anymore. All he could do was press forward, charge into the muddy waters, and swim the whole course through.

Completing the commission and retrieving Zhu Erniang’s molted shell was only a small goal now. At best, he hoped he could get them done along the way.

The true problem he intended to solve on this trip to Lingxu City was one of life and death.

He had to uncover the method by which the heavenly gods and the Lord Emperor tracked the Generous Pot, and then cut it off.

As the wearer of the divine bone amulet, he could feel the Generous Pot growing stronger day by day, growing more active.

A giant whale could not swim forever in shallow waters. An elephant could not hide behind a monkey.

Sooner or later, the Generous Pot would no longer be able to remain concealed. If it leaked its aura even once more, he would be facing endless pursuit from the heavenly gods.

How long could he keep hiding?

The retired old official Xiang Yan had liked saying one thing to him these last few days: no need to rush, proceed slowly.

But He Lingchuan did not know how much time he had left. Slowly was not an option for him.

He would be far better off striking first, before disaster descended on him the same way it had on the State of Yuān and on Panlong City.

That was what it meant to know there was a tiger in the mountain and go anyway.

To everyone else, the finest and most prosperous place in the world awaited him.

To him, it was a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den, a raging current and a field of peril.

And yet he still had to go.

Still, he had his own advantage. He was alone. He could advance or retreat freely and move with flexibility.

Beijia hated the State of Yuān and took Panlong City seriously, but it would not pay much attention to some nameless drifter like him.

The wind in Baishajue had begun to turn cool. It blew across his body fresh and crisp, carrying away the last of the day’s heat and restlessness. He Lingchuan pressed his knuckles together, and they cracked twice.

Greatest city under heaven, here I come.

[End of Seventh Arc]